USDA: More Precip Is Needed in Texas

USDA's Joint Ag Weather Facilitysays on the Plains, isolated snow showers are confined to the northern tier of the region. "Elsewhere, generally mild, dry weather has returned in the wake of recent, beneficial precipitation," USDA adds. However, USDA reports more precipitation is still needed in Texas, where many stock ponds remain low or empty. In addition, USDA says 64% of the Texas pastures and rangeland were rated in very poor to poor condition on Feb. 12, along with 40% of the winter wheat.

In the West, USDA says cool weather prevails. "Scattered rain and snow showers are mostly limited to the Southwest, although precipitation is approaching the northern Pacific Coast," USDA reports. According to USDA, more than half (52%) of Arizona' s rangeland was rated in very poor to poor condition on Feb. 12, while most of California's non-irrigated rangeland was in poor condition, according to USDA.

In the Corn Belt, USDA says mild, dry conditions prevail across the upper Midwest. "Meanwhile, light snow is falling across much of the eastern Corn Belt, with some rain mixed in across the Ohio Valley," according to USDA.

In the South, warm, dry weather has returned to the western Gulf Coast region, according to USDA. "Meanwhile, beneficial rain showers are providing limited drought relief in the southern Atlantic region, although Florida's peninsula remains dry," USDA reports. Wildfires are an increasing threat across central and southern Florida, USDA adds.

In its outlook, USDA says a series of fast-moving storms will produce generally light precipitation across much of the U.S. "Today’s light rain and snow in the East will be replaced by a more impressive precipitation shield on Wednesday, when 1- to 2-inch rainfall totals will occur across the interior Southeast," USDA says. Light snow will overspread parts of the Midwest and Northeast on Feb. 15-16, USDA explains. It continues, "Toward week’s end, a new storm will produce additional rain across the nation’s southern tier, with heavy amounts possible along the Gulf Coast."